Furniture photos before the move

1. Before the truck arrives

Walk through the home with your phone while the furniture is still assembled: each piece from the front and the side, then close up the corners, legs, glass and polished surfaces. If something already has a scratch or a mark, photograph it close up: better that it is on record as already there.

2. What is inside the boxes

Number the boxes and take a photo of each one open before you seal it, with the number in shot. For fragile or valuable things (TV, dishes, pictures), a photo of it switched on or assembled helps show it worked.

3. Get it on the inventory

If the company makes an inventory or a receipt of what it takes, check it before signing and ask them to note any damage that was already there. Your photo helps; damage written down and signed by the company helps more.

4. The same photos at unloading

When you arrive, before the truck leaves, check the furniture and boxes in the same order. If something arrived damaged, photograph it there and then and ask for it to be noted on the delivery receipt. Many companies give a short window to report damage: read your contract.

5. What the seal proves, and what it does not

Sealing the photos records that they existed on that date and have not been changed since. On its own it does not prove who caused the damage, and it does not replace a signed inventory. What it does is show, with a date, how each piece looked before loading. To seal them, add one room for each room of the old home and one for anything that arrived damaged.

6. If something arrived broken

Write to the company, calmly, with the before and after photo of the same piece, and ask how the claim goes from here. You can adapt this message:

Hello. In the move on [date], the [item] arrived with [damage]. This is how it looked before loading and how it arrived: [link]. Please let me know how to proceed with the claim. Thank you.